Laguna del Tigre is a humid tropical forest included in the Ramsar Convention’s List of Important International Wetlands. Sunday, January 19, 2003, approximately 100 campesinos attempted to settle in Arroyo Chocop, located within the southern portion of the national park. Guards from the forestry division of the national park discovered the incident and alerted the Police and the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP). Authorities immediately began negotiations to remove the settlers from the area. On January 20th, all parties awaited a peaceful outcome, but the situation remained tense.
Illegal natural resource development and settlements within the boundaries of Laguna del Tigre National Park pose one of the greatest threats to the area’s biological diversity. The conflict is aggravated by campesinos looking for work and by logging and livestock interest groups looking for land to develop. Guatemala’s ranching and forest industries have created organizations to relocate and pay landless farmers for work done on lands within the national park. Unfortunately, there is little coordination among the departments of the Guatemalan government and they have not involved themselves in resolving the issue.
In a meeting held on Wednesday, January 22, in the town of San Andrés, Petén, the Minister of the Department of Agriculture, Ranching, and Food, Edin Barrientos, proposed to the community representatives to develop a proposal in order to change the park zoning. Yet, the Minister of Agriculture does not have legal authority over Guatemala’s protected areas. Authorities at CONAP are mandated by law to review requests such as these. This situation is an example of the unsustainable management practices occurring within the boundaries of Laguna del Tigre National Park.
(Top photo: Invasions by campesinos into Laguna del Tigre National Park have caused a rapid increase in the amount of land converted to agricultural uses. In this picture taken by ParksWatch, it is easy to observe the impact of this problem in Paso Caballos, a few kilometers to the east of the recently invaded Río Chocop.)
ParksWatch: January 2003